Upset over Cong MLAs remarks Kumaraswamy threatens to quit

29 Jan 201905:48am IST

29 Jan 201905:48am IST

PTI, BENGALURU: Amid strains in Congress-JDS ties, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Monday threatened to step down over adverse comments by a Congress MLA, prompting the coalition partner to swing into damage control mode. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and incharge of party affairs in the state said the party high commandhas full faith in Kumaraswamy and the State government.

Irked over a Congress MLA demanding that Siddaramaiah be made the chief minister again during an event on Sunday, Kumaraswamy said "If my way of functioning is not acceptable, then I am ready to quit. I don't want to continue also. I am not ready to stick to the chair."

The Chief Minister said the Congress and the JDS have formed the government to give good governance here and "we are doing a good job." Congress MLA ST Somashekhar had claimed during the

event that development works had come to a grinding halt here and in other parts of the state.

Reacting to the comments, Kumaraswamy said "Our government has taken up projects worth Rs one lakh crore including suburban train, elevated corridor and peripheral ring road." He was speaking to reporters after dedicating a six-coach metro rail on 'Green Line' at the Mantri Square Metro Station. A red-faced Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao, who too was present there, said such statements by the Congress MLAs were not acceptable.

"Today Rs 8,000 crore worth work is happening. I condemn such public statements and will issue a showcause notice....," Rao told reporters. "Morning I saw S T Somashekhar's statement. It breaches the disciplinary line. The coalition government has done lots of development work in Bengaluru." The works sanctioned by the previous Siddaramaiah government were also being taken up, he said.